The fact that climate change is real, happening, and having a major impact on the planets weather patterns is an accepted fact by the majority of people, but it does seem that the worlds media does little to highlight the issues as facts, instead tending to focus on the sensational news. Now I know that this is because the sensational stuff is what tends to sell papers or attract airtime or whatever the metric a particular media outlet uses, but I seriously feel that we need to get a grip on truth and facts. Here’s a little round-up which highlights some of this, and here’s a truly shocking piece on some of the effects.

I loved Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome as a child, and I guess I still do. The film version has been remade and will be in cinemas soon. Looking at the trailer (see below) I think that maybe the new film goes a bit off-script compared to the original and the book, but it may well still be in spirit.

This piece interested me because of the link to Elm trees, I’ve seen White-letter Hairstreaks locally where there are still some surviving Wych Elm trees. I think that at least for now the ones that I am aware of locally are a little more protected than the ones mentioned in the article.

Birds of prey were once much more common than they are today. Overtime they were persecuted to dwindling numbers and in some cases for some species in the UK to extinction. Now the governments own watchdog, that is there to supposedly protect wildlife, has issued a licence to shoot buzzards. This is because allegedly the birds prey on pheasant chicks which are being bred to be shot. Not necessarily as you might think for subsistence consumption, but as sport. Some sport. This, and other game bird management practices are driving down numbers of raptors once again. Do we not learn from the mistakes of our own history? Clearly not. It’s likely that this won’t end here, as now a precedent has been set. Patrick Barkham, writing in The Guardian, also has a take.

Currently Reading:

Normal Pt. 4 by Warren Ellis [GoodReads] I really enjoyed this four-part novella. I was wondering how it was all going to get tied up in the final part but the author did so incredibly well. I plan to reread all four parts together at some point soon, I suspect I’ll pick up on a few things I missed reading them each a week a part the first time around.

A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins [GoodReads] This still stands up as a good travel read despite being a journey that is over 40 years old.